Monthly Archives: October 2012

I had a long set up and cute story to set up this post for my friend Penny Rebecca, But after reading her story on paper I realized there was nothing I needed to say or add to make this post more poignant. I would simply like to introduce you to my friend Penny Rebecca I’m absolutely honored she would take the time to write her story for us for Breast Cancer Awareness Month “Pink…No Longer Just a color”

Pink…no longer just a color

Being a tomboy most of my life, pink wasn’t a color I was very familiar with, actually I think I went to great extremes to avoid pink and all the girly-ness associated with it. That is until my world changed and pink was no longer just a color, but a symbol of hope, strength and survival.

On a balmy summer evening as I lay in bed reading, I placed my hand across my heart out of comfort and suddenly felt something strange. While flat on my back, I noticed a dime sized bump protruding from the top of my right breast. I turned to my husband and asked, “Have you noticed this before?” He shrugged and suggested I go see my gynecologist the following week. My doctor checked me out and concluded it must be just a cyst. After all, it didn’t bother me, it was mobile and being a marathoner who didn’t smoke, do drugs or drink alcohol and kept to a healthy diet and weight, I was one of the healthiest patients she had, She suggested I wait three menstrual cycles. At the age of 29 and in such good health, she figured the cyst would go away on its own. I’m not sure how to explain it, but something in me said no, that’s not good enough, I want a mammogram to be sure. She wrote my prescription and a few days later I was at the radiologist’s office having a mammogram and an ultrasound. When the doctor looked at my films I was told, “it doesn’t look like anything to worry about, but if you would feel better, we’ll get a biopsy”. Again my gut said to me to get it checked out just to be sure. I headed to a breast surgeon, had the biopsy done and went on my merry way. After all 2 doctors had told me there was nothing to worry about and I was a 29 year old healthy women; it couldn’t be breast cancer! I had to wait 2 weeks for the results so I headed to Aruba on vacation and tried not to think about it but now I noticed that little bump sticking out of the top of my bikini.